


5 Minutes (Don't Choke)

by orphan_account



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Asphyxiation, Denial of Feelings, During Canon, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, Mouth-to-Mouth, Panic Attacks, Pre-Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Pre-Slash, Worried Hank Anderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 20:54:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15893964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After a minor glitch Connor's system decided to terminate his breathing process. It needed 5 minutes to restart.This should not have affected the investigation."Can you give an android mouth-to-mouth?!"





	5 Minutes (Don't Choke)

**Author's Note:**

> so imagine this takes place like right before "last chance, connor" so our boy here is almost a deviant but not quite and hank considers him a friend. may have taken some artistic liberties with canon but eh.

As Connor sat at his desk silently he felt the most peculiar sensation in the center of his chest. It seemed to climb up the android's throat and out of his mouth in what could only be described as a hiccup.

Androids didn't hiccup, did they?

While Hank fixed Connor with a bemused look the RK800 read the notification in the corner of his vision. It was informing him that a biocomponent had malfunctioned and was being shut down for updates. It would then be restarted in 5 minutes.

Hank read Connor's expression. He had that far away look in eyes that meant that he was examining something that only he could see.

"What? You actually reviewing the case or just dicking around on Youtube in your head?"

Connor made to reply to Hank but found that nothing could come out. He gave a shaky smile and shrugged instead.

"Whatever..." Hank sighed and went back to business as usual. Connor was relieved. He didn't want Hank to be suspicious. Worrying Hank would hamper progress on the investigation. Besides, Connor wasn't worried.

It was just a little glitch. It would fix itself in 5 minutes. Until then Connor just had to deal with the fact that his android equivalent of lungs had shut themselves off. But he had been through worse. It shouldn't have been difficult.

Except of course it was.

In the first minute it was annoying. A pressure. A tingle. It made Connor tap his foot and fidget and try to think of the cases he should have been working on but it was so _distracting._ That's all it was at first. Distracting.

Then it was pain.

Normally Connor would have been disturbed to realize that he, a machine, was feeling pain as if he were a human. But he was much too preoccupied with frantically rubbing at his chest with his hand as if that would actually do anything and wondering why it was taking so damn long to fix this horrible glitch because he needed to _breathe_. So badly.

All he could do was grab his head in hands, fisting his fingers into his hair, and kick the side of his desk. Hard.

"What the hell are you doing, Connor?!" Hank shouted.

One look from wet brown eyes and Hank knew something was terribly wrong.

"Hey, hey, what's-"

He didn't even get to finish the thought before Connor was stumbling out of his chair and running somewhat clumsily out the door.

"Oh, fuck me!" Hank took off after his android.

 

Connor knew he shouldn't have just run off like that, but it was like all of a sudden a million eyes were watching him and judging him and making this so much worse when all he wanted was air. It was like fleeing made sense because maybe if he were fast enough he could run after his breath and physically catch it in his arms.

Either way he found himself slumped on the ground against a brick wall in between two buildings across the street from the police station.

Connor's whole body was shaking and he could hear his thirium pump in his ears. Error messages and notifications were gathering in the corner of his vision again but he closed them without bothering to read them first. He was only concerned with how long he had until he could breathe again.

It was just under 3 minutes.

He was going to die here.

 

"Fucking- Connor! Where are you?!"

Hank searched around outside the station, calling for his android who was apparently having some sort of robotic anxiety attack, before spotting movement in an alley across the road. He made his way over but not before almost getting grazed by a taxi that honked its horn at him as he ran.

It _was_ Connor. But Hank didn't allow himself to relax considering the state of his partner.

Connor was on the ground weakly clawing at himself, mostly at his chest, drawing a bit of blue blood with his fingernails when he hit skin.

Hank flopped down beside him and grabbed his wrists.

"Hey, hey, can you hear me? Get a hold of yourself, kid. What's the matter? What's going on?"

Connor's tear-stained face turned towards the new voice. Then he _gagged_ like he was about to puke on Hank and continued squirming.

"Shit. Tell me what's wrong so I can help you, Connor. Are you hurting?"

Connor scrunched his eyes shut and nodded. Good, an answer.

"We should get you to CyberLife and-"

Connor's eyes opened wide again and he shook his head like an animal swatting fleas off of itself. Begging silently.

"What? You don't wanna go to CyberLife? Look, I don't even know what's wrong-"

The frantic android grabbed Hank's hand with both of his and pressed it against his chest. Hank felt Connor's artificial heart pounding under his hand much too fast. The hands that laid over Hank's had peeled back their skin to expose the white plastic beneath as if Connor were attempting to transfer data to another android.

"I don't understand, Connor. What do you need?"

Connor resumed his panicked scrabbling in response. Slender fingers wrapped around his throat as if he were strangling himself.

"Wait- are you _choking?_ Do androids even need to breathe?"

Connor practically sobbed as he nodded again.

Hank took a deep breath to calm himself, the irony of that action not lost on him. "Okay. Okay, can I do the heimlich on a robot? What about CPR?"

The android had finally begun to still himself. That wasn't a good sign after all.

Hank pulled Connor with his back to the older man's chest and just about sat him in his lap while he dug his fists into Connor's stomach in a desperate attempt to dislodge a possible airway obstruction. Connor's head lolled against Hank's shoulder.

"Aw, hell!" Sensing he was getting nowhere Hank gently lowered Connor to the floor.

He was still alive. And awake. He watched Hank with tired eyes.

"Can you give an android mouth-to-mouth?!"

Connor didn't answer.

'Fuck it' Hank thought, and dove in. He put his mouth on Connor's _and wow wasn't that exactly what he was doing,_ pinched his nose so the air wouldn't escape, and _blew._

Connor's eyes fluttered and his chest rose with Hank's breath.

Then he bolted upright and smacked Hank in the nose with his face.

 

When Hank had basically kissed Connor the android's delirious mind thought that it would probably be alright if he died right then. He got what he wanted.

The hot air tasted like whiskey and he felt _better._ Sweet relief.

Then he was startlingly aware of the fact that the pesky biocomponent responsible for his misery had finally restarted.

Connor bashed his skull against Hank's then gulped in air greedily. His sight was dimmed and he felt light-headed, a sensation that he should have been immune to as an android. He could add it in with the pain on his list of concerning discoveries about himself. He was vaguely aware of a hand rubbing his back while he caught his breath and a gruff voice muttering "There we go..."

"I'm-" Connor coughed, "I apologize for-"

"Scared the shit out of me, Connor."

"It was a minor glitch. Unfortunately as it repaired itself I seemed to have...lost control. My rational thinking was compromised."

"You almost died in my arms. _Again._ "

"Androids cannot die from lack of oxygen, Hank. At most I would have entered a forced standby-mode until- "

Hank held his hand up. "Spare me all of your 'nothing's wrong, everything's peachy' bull. You and I gotta sit down and have a nice fucking talk. About a lot of things. But for now why don't you help me up so we can get back to the station before they send the whole precinct after us thinkin' we got ourselves killed."

Connor slowly got himself up before pulling Hank to join him. Before they could get moving back to the police station Hank had yanked Connor into a hug that was only slightly awkward for the both of them.

"I never wanna find you like that again. You don't have to run away from me when something's wrong anymore. Things have changed. We're partners now, okay?"

The corner of Connor's mouth started to turn up. "Okay."


End file.
